Blushing and flushing

Flushing and blushing are two words for the same thing – flushing is the word used by doctors. Flushing is almost never a serious medical condition. The only exception is a rare disorder called ‘carcinoid syndrome’ in which there are episodes of bright red flushing of the face lasting about 20 minutes with sudden diarrhoea and stomach cramps. The usual cause of carcinoid syndrome is a tumour.

Why do we blush or flush?

Flushing of the cheeks and nose (and sometimes the forehead and chin) is a normal emotional response. This is why it is annoying and can be embarrassing. Without our permission, our body is giving away emotions which we may prefer to keep secret – we may not want the world to know that we feel anxious, excited or ashamed.

 

In an experiment, people watched a video of shoppers who, by mistake, toppled a display of toilet rolls. The shoppers who looked embarrassed and tried to replace the rolls were rated more highly by the viewers. So psychologists think that blushing acts as a sort of unconscious public apology when we do something wrong, showing that we are upset and making people more likely to forgive us.